Posted on 02/16/2007 4:56:04 AM PST by Spiff
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who said Wednesday night he is making a bid for the White House, will not be America’s 44th president because he supports abortion rights and gay rights and has been married three times.
At least so says Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.
Land is considered an influential evangelical leader, and he has a new book, due out next month, entitled The Divided States of America? What Liberals and Conservatives Are Missing in the God-and-Country Shouting Match — with a foreword written by Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn).
Land told The Hill in an interview this week that as it stands now, the top tier of Republican presidential hopefuls lacks a candidate social conservatives can be fully comfortable voting for.
Beginning with Giuliani, Land said “the vast majority” of social conservative voters will not vote for the former mayor even if he gets the nomination and faces off against Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.).
“If he wins, he’ll do so without social conservatives,” Land said.
While Giuliani’s moderate to liberal stances on social issues are beginning to be discussed more and more in conservative circles, Land said the mayor’s annulment, divorce and subsequent third marriage will seal the deal against hizzoner for social conservatives.
“It’s got to surface at some point,” Land said. “There are too many social conservatives talking about it, and it applies to [Newt] Gingrich, too.”
Land talks often about the weight social conservatives carry within the Republican Party, citing exit polling and warning GOP candidates that they can “no more win without conservative voters than a Democrat can without overwhelming support from blacks.”
“That’s the reality of politics in the early 21st century,” he said.
Land looked at the current field of Republican candidates and offered his appraisal — not endorsement — of those he views to be in contention.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has to “convince” social conservatives his conversions on issues such as abortion and gay rights are authentic rather than politically motivated, Land said, adding that many conservatives will likely give Romney the benefit of the doubt on his changed abortion position.
“Conservatives would see that as ‘He’s seen the light,’” Land said. “They would see it as less of a flip-flop than as a journey.”
Of Romney’s Mormon religion, Land said it’s not a “deal-killer.”
Land said he has encouraged the former governor to reach out to social conservatives about his religion and appeal to “the American people’s sense of fair play,” much as President Kennedy addressed his Catholicism in front of the Greater Houston Ministerial Association in 1960.
As for oft-perceived Republican frontrunner Sen. John McCain, Land paused, then said the Arizona senator’s strengths with independent voters are what is hurting him with socially conservative voters.
McCain’s “maverick” streak may be a winning personality trait for reporters and independents, but social conservatives consider it to be a sign of unpredictability.
“They don’t like being surprised,” Land said.
Though Land doesn’t question McCain’s consistency on abortion issues, he said McCain’s involvement in the “Gang of 14” — the bipartisan Senate group that prevented the “nuclear” option on judicial nominees — and his refusal to support anti-gay marriage proposals severely hurts his chances with traditional-values voters.
In the end, Land said, social conservatives are concerned about the kind of judges a President McCain would nominate.
“Voting pro-life is not enough,” Land said. “He has got to express himself in other venues.”
Add that to the McCain-Feingold campaign-finance reform law, legislation that sparked an outcry in religious organizations, and McCain, despite a conservative record and his continued, loyal backing of President Bush, does not come in as a favorite of the religious right.
But Land said the second tier of candidates offers voters of his ilk two contenders so-called values voters could get behind — Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R).
Both men are considered long-shots at this early stage of the game, but Land said impressive fundraising or gains in the polls could open a door to either candidate through which social conservatives might run.
“They don’t have to convince other social conservatives they’re one of them,” Land said. “They just have to convince other social conservatives they can win.”
Land called Huckabee a “Republican Bill Clinton,” praising the longtime governor’s charisma and affability with voters.
“I think he could catch fire,” Land said.
As it stands today, probably a good 10 months away from the first votes, Land said Romney and McCain “get the first chance to close the deal,” but concedes with those two as the frontrunners, social conservatives are left without a candidate who makes them 100 percent comfortable.
“That’s why if I were a Brownback supporter or a Romney supporter, I wouldn’t be all that discouraged,” he said.
As for Democrats, Land challenges the assumption held by many that Clinton will be the Democratic nominee, giving her “50-50” chances.
He said as he talks to conservative voters, he hears the word “calculating” used most often to describe the former first lady and cites “Clinton-Bush” fatigue as one of the factors working against her.
“When people talk to me about her, their facial expressions change,” he said.
None of the GOP candidates are "gun grabbing baby killers."
End of story, goodbye.
You got that right. I respect our Founding Fathers too much to not go out and vote. And who knows, I just may feel good voting for a candidate this time around. Something that I haven't felt in a long time.
Isn't that the truth!! How many times in our lifetimes have we voted for "the lesser of two evils"?
That's all over now.
I hate to tell you this, but the Florida panhandle is much less important than the peninsula.
If the GOP can't carry FL, there is no point in having an election, let's just give it to hillary.
And Rudy is the only one that has a chance of winning Florida.
Most of the Perpetually Pissed Off have had nothing but one complaint after the other about Bush and are now calling him "liberal" or "RINO". They hate him as much as the Left does. You must be one of the Generally Pissed Off.
sorry about the shopping trip...
approx where are you?
the hand-wavers in my SBC church (va beach) are pretty few and far between (not that they bother us or anything - i occasionally feel the need). visited my mom's church (sbc also, rural NC), same style - reverent and attentive. our revival preachers (our own pastor does 'em too) are extra-energetic but not like that. we LIKE hellfire and brimstone, salvation vs. sin and biblical stands on current social issues. i think the Creed is truth, and so is the Bible. can't speak for a lot of other Bapt or SBC churches, as we've only been back for a year or so (grew up with it, then wandered in the desert for 30 years). sure glad i came back though - i love it and look forward to it every week, and try to give back some time as well as $. we are blessed enough to agree with our church and pastor almost 100% (we disagree with SBC on alcohol - medicinal only. LOL)
I understood what you said. I simply said the effect was trivial. You have to pick one primary or the other to vote in , in an open primary state. Few dems will actually give up the chance to select their own candidate to (hopefully) effect the oppositions primary, and the same holds true for Republicans crossing the line to vote in the Democrat primary.
The only exceptions are rural areas where one party is so entrenched that the primaries are often defacto general elections.
You're calling President Bush a POS?
I've been voting since the 50s and didn't vote for Lieberman and Gore.
I think Rick Warren has pulled his endorsement from Barack Hussein Obama, because he found out that Rudy Giuliani is now backing the Global Warming hysteria.
The GOP first has to win FL which will put it behind, but still in the race.
Then he has to win some tier 2 states in the Ohio valley and in the west. Then tier 3 states like LA and WV
This is the first time I've been annoyed by the GOP. But I'm sick of marching in lock-step only to have a liberal handed to me as a "savior."
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